Tag: christmas

Your Guide to Winter 2016/2017 Festivals & Events in Edmonton

Here’s my listing of winter festivals & events for 2016/2017, powered by ShareEdmonton. Below you’ll find dozens of events with a website, dates, and links to social media and ShareEdmonton for each. I hope you find this listing as useful as I do.

Christmas Lights Amidst City Lights
Christmas Lights Amidst City Lights, photo by Dave Sutherland

Festivals & Events

For winter, I’m generally looking at events that take place from mid-November through March. Those with a winter or holiday theme are more likely to be included. Here’s the listing for 2016/2017:

Event Dates Links
Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up November 12 SE 
Hazeldean Christmas Craft Sale November 12-13 SE  
Santa’s Little Helpers Shopping Extravaganza November 13 SE  
All is Bright on 124 Street November 19 SE    
Santa’s Parade of Lights November 19 SE    
Leduc Festival of Trees November 19-20 SE  
Royal Glenora Club Christmas Gift Show November 20 SE   
I Heart YEG Winter November 20 SE   
Indie Handmade November 24-27 SE    
Festival of Trees November 24-27 SE    
Make It Edmonton November 24-27 SE     
Hand2Hand Christmas Market November 26 SE  
Silver Bells Winter Market November 26 SE   
Shop the Hall November 26 SE   
The Great Sweater Run November 26 SE  
A Christmas Carol Nov 26 – Dec 23 SE     
So This Is Christmas Nov 30 – Dec 3 SE  
The Legislature Light-up December 1 SE    
Butterdome Craft Sale December 1-4 SE    
Winter Wine Festival December 2 SE   
Celebrate the Season December 2-23 SE    
Winter Patio Kick-off December 2-4 SE  
Winterfest at Snow Valley December 2-4 SE    
Luminaria December 2-4 SE   
Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair Dec 2-4 & Dec 9-11 SE    
Santa Shuffle Fun Run & Elf Walk December 3 SE   
A Festive Mosaic December 3 SE 
A Christmas Karol: The Karol Wojtyla Nativity Play December 3 SE 
Gold Bar Craft Sale December 3 SE   
Old Strathcona Horse-Drawn Sleigh Shuttle Dec 3, 10, 17 SE     
The Many Moods of Christmas December 5 SE 
Carrot Christmas Arts Bazaar December 9-10 SE    
Zoominescence: Festival of Light December 9-18 SE    
ETS Christmas Lights Tours December 9-18 SE   
Leefield Community’s Gift & Craft Sale December 10 SE  
Trains, Toys and Christmas Traditions December 11 SE  
Candy Cane Lane Dec 11 – Jan 3 SE    
Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree December 15-18 SE     
Christmas Reflections Dec 16-23 SE     
#YEGlongnight December 21 SE  
Shumka presents Clara’s Dream! December 29-30 SE   
New Year’s Eve Downtown December 31 SE    
Swing ‘n Skate Sundays Jan 1 – Feb 26 SE 
Southeast Winter Fun Festival January 14 SE   
Deep Freeze: Byzantine Winter Festival January 14-15 SE   
World Snow Day January 15 SE     
Edmonton Whisky Festival January 18 SE 
Ice on Whyte Jan 26-29 & Feb 2-5 SE    
Winter Walk Day February 1 SE   
The Flying Canoe Adventure February 3-4 SE   
Parka Patio February 4 SE   
Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival February 10-11 SE   
Silver Skate Festival February 10-20 SE   
Hypothermic Half Marathon Feb 12 & Feb 26 SE   
Valentine’s Day Disco Skate February 14 SE 
Winter Cities Shake-Up 2017 February 16-18 SE  
Family Day at the Alberta Legislature February 20 SE    
Coldest Night of the Year February 25 SE    
SkirtsAFire Festival March 9-12 SE    
Winter Warrior Challenge March 11 SE   
Western Canada Fashion Week Mar 23 – Apr 1 SE   

You can check out a calendar view of festivals here or you can download the iCal feed for your own apps.

I’ll do my best to keep this list updated as new events are announced. For instance, Ice Castles is expected to return in 2017, weather permitting!

Winter in Edmonton

Edmonton is a winter city, and we’re working hard to reclaim the joy of winter and embrace the season! You can learn all about the WinterCity strategy and associated events and ideas here. You can also download the Winter Excitement Guide in PDF.

Happy New Year 2015!

For some in our community, this time of year is anything but merry. Lots of organizations do great work on behalf of the less fortunate, and they’ll especially need your support this year given the poor economy. Consider supporting the Christmas Bureau, Santas Anonymous, The Salvation Army, Edmonton’s Food Bank, or one of the many other serving agencies in Edmonton.

There are of course many more events listed in the ShareEdmonton calendar, so check it out! Have I missed something that should be included? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add it.

Happy winter!

Your Guide to Winter 2015/2016 Festivals & Events in Edmonton

UPDATE: Check out my 2016/2017 listing here!

Here’s my listing of winter festivals & events for 2015/2016, powered by ShareEdmonton. Below you’ll find dozens of events with a website, dates, and links to social media for each. You’ll also find a link to the event at ShareEdmonton and a link to an iCal for the event. I hope you find this listing as useful as I do.

High Level Bridge

Festivals & Events

For winter, I’m generally looking at events that take place from mid-November through March. Those with a winter or holiday theme are more likely to be included. Here’s the listing for 2015/2016:

Event Dates Links
Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up November 14 SE 
Hazeldean Christmas Craft Sale November 14-15 SE  
Leduc Festival of Trees November 14-15 SE  
Santa’s Little Helpers Shopping Extravaganza November 15 SE  
Indie Handmade November 20-22 SE    
All is Bright on 124 Street November 21 SE    
Santa’s Parade of Lights November 21 SE    
The Vixens of Vintage Holiday Market November 21-22 SE  
Royal Glenora Club Christmas Gift Show November 22 SE   
Festival of Trees November 26-28 SE    
Make It Edmonton November 26-29 SE     
Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair Nov 27-29 & Dec 4-6 SE    
Winterfest at Snow Valley November 27-29 SE    
Hand2Hand Christmas Market November 28 SE  
Silver Bells Winter Market November 28 SE   
A Christmas Carol Nov 28 – Dec 23 SE     
Butterdome Craft Sale December 3-6 SE    
The Legislature Light-up December 3 SE    
So This Is Christmas December 4-6 SE  
Celebrate the Season December 4-23 SE    
Festival of Light December 4-13 SE    
A Festive Mosaic December 5 SE 
A Christmas Karol: The Karol Wojtyla Nativity Play December 5 SE 
Luminaria December 5-6 SE   
Old Strathcona Horse-Drawn Sleigh Shuttle Dec 5, 12, 19 SE     
The Many Moods of Christmas December 7 SE 
Holiday Magic at City Hall December 7-11 SE 
Candy Cane Lane Dec 11 – Jan 3 SE    
Christmas Reflections Dec 11-30 SE     
Southeast Winter Fun Festival December 12 SE   
Leefield Community’s Gift & Craft Sale December 12 SE  
Snowflake Sunday December 13 SE  
The Culture Collective Holiday Arts Market December 17 SE    
A River City Christmas December 17 SE   
Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree December 17-20 SE     
Shumka presents Clara’s Dream! December 29-30 SE   
New Year’s Eve Downtown December 31 SE    
Swing ‘n Skate Sundays Jan 3 – Feb 28 SE 
Deep Freeze: Byzantine Winter Festival January 9-10 SE   
Ice Castles Jan 9 – Mar 14 SE   
Edmonton Whisky Festival January 13 SE 
World Snow Day January 17 SE     
Ice on Whyte Jan 21-24 & Jan 28-31 SE    
Winter Walk Day February 3 SE   
The Flying Canoe Adventure February 5-6 SE   
Hypothermic Half Marathon Feb 7 & Feb 21 SE   
Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival February 12-13 SE   
Silver Skate Festival February 12-21 SE   
winterfête: Family Day at the Alberta Legislature February 15 SE    
SkirtsAFire Festival March 10-13 SE  
Winter Warrior Challenge March 12 SE   
Western Canada Fashion Week March 24-31 SE   

You can check out a calendar view of festivals here or you can download the iCal feed for your own apps.

Winter in Edmonton

Edmonton is a winter city, and we’re working hard to reclaim the joy of winter and embrace the season! You can learn all about the WinterCity strategy and associated events and ideas here. Stay tuned for a new Winter Signature Drink contest and the For the Love of Winter Fashion Design Competition. Also taking place sometime this winter (depending on when the snow comes) is #YEGSNOWFIGHT – stay tuned!

Quite a few events took place last year that aren’t happening this year, like Red Bull Crashed Ice and the Winter Cities Shake-Up. Hopefully some others will return, like illumiNITE, and if they do I’ll add them to the list above.

Happy New Year 2015!
Fireworks welcomed 2015!

For some in our community, this time of year is anything but merry. Lots of organizations do great work on behalf of the less fortunate, but two in particular are celebrating big milestones this year. Santas Anonymous is marking 60 years of delivering toys to less fortunate children in Edmonton and the Christmas Bureau is marking 75 years of providing a festive meal to Edmontonians in need. You can learn more about both and get involved here.

There are of course many more events listed in the ShareEdmonton calendar, so check it out! Have I missed something that should be included? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add it.

Happy winter!

Your Guide to Winter 2014/2015 Festivals & Events in Edmonton

Here’s my listing of winter festivals & events for 2014/2015, powered by ShareEdmonton. Below you’ll find dozens of events with a website, dates, and links to social media for each. You’ll also find a link to the event at ShareEdmonton and a link to an iCal for the event. I hope you find this listing as useful as I do.

Alberta Legislature

Festivals & Events

For my summer festival & event listing, I included events from June through August. For winter, I’m generally looking at December through March. Here’s the listing:

Event Dates Links
Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up November 15 SE 
All is Bright on 124 Street November 22 SE    
Festival of Trees November 27-30 SE    
A Christmas Story, The Musical Nov 27 – Dec 7 SE    
Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair Nov 28-30 & Dec 5-7 SE    
Snow Valley’s Winterfest November 28-30 SE    
It’s a Wonderful Whyte Nov 29, Dec 6, 13, 20 SE     
A Christmas Carol Nov 29 – Dec 23 SE     
Butterdome Craft Sale December 4-7 SE    
The Legislature Light-up December 4 SE    
Celebrate the Season December 5-23 SE    
Festival of Light December 5-14 SE    
Luminaria December 6-7 SE   
Frostival in McCauley December 6-28 SE 
Candy Cane Lane Dec 12 – Jan 4 SE    
Southeast Winter Fun Festival December 13 SE   
Christmas Reflections Dec 13 – Jan 3 SE    
Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree December 18-21 SE   
New Year’s Eve Downtown December 31 SE    
Deep Freeze: Byzantine Winter Festival January 10-11 SE   
Edmonton Whiskey Festival January 14 SE 
World Snow Day January 18 SE     
Ice on Whyte Jan 23 – Feb 1 SE    
Winter Cities Shake-Up 2015 January 27-30 SE  
illumiNITE January 29-31 SE 
Green & Glow Winterfest January 29-31 SE    
Winter Walk Day February 4 SE   
The Flying Canoe Adventure February 6-7 SE 
Edmonton Resilience Festival February 7-8 SE    
Winefest Edmonton February 13-14 SE   
Silver Skate Festival February 13-22 SE   
winterfête: Family Day at the Alberta Legislature February 16 SE    
Expanse Festival March 12-15 SE 
Farewell to Winter Patio Party March 13-15 SE    
Red Bull Crashed Ice March 14 SE     
Northern Lights Music Festival March 2015  
Downtown Dining Week March 20-29 SE   
Western Canada Fashion Week March 26 – April 4 SE   

You can check out a calendar view of festivals here or you can download the iCal feed for your own apps.

Winter in Edmonton

Edmonton is a winter city, and we’re working hard to reclaim the joy of winter and embrace the season! You can learn all about the WinterCity strategy and associated events and ideas here. Stay tuned for a new Winter Signature Drink contest and the For the Love of Winter Fashion Design Competition.

There are some great outdoor events taking place this season if you’re looking to take advantage of the hills and rinks around the city, such as Sip & Slide Sundays, Swing ‘n Skate Sundays, and Servus Free Ski Fridays. You can check out a full listing of winter events here or you can download the iCal feed for your own apps. If you’d rather download a PDF, the WinterCity folks have put together this handy winter excitement guide.

There are of course many more events listed in the ShareEdmonton calendar, so check it out! Have I missed something that should be included? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add it.

Happy winter!

December 2013 Update

With the holidays coming to a close and the new year approaching, I’ll soon be back into my regular routine. My much-needed break away from everything was longer than anticipated, but refreshing! I’m easing back into things this week, starting with this post.

I was in Miami, FL the week of December 9 for work. We had a very productive week of meetings, and got to enjoy some fabulous weather too. Florida was the only place in the US with warm weather that week.

We also took a trip to the Kennedy Space Center. It’s easy to get inspired to tackle your own moonshots by learning about everything NASA has accomplished over the years.

From there I flew to New York City to meet Sharon for our vacation. We last traveled to NYC in 2007 also just before Christmas. This time we skipped most of the touristy things and made much better decisions and where to eat and what to see! It definitely helps to travel with an excellent planner like Sharon. Highlights included the High Line, Brooklyn Bridge, Chelsea Market, and upper west-side.

The trip was a lot of fun, but also a bit tiring thanks to our 20,000+ steps every day except one! We’ve uploaded a bunch of photos here if you’d like to check them out. Sharon will be writing more about our trip in the future too.

Of course, it was a special trip for another reason too. I proposed to Sharon on December 18 in Central Park, and she said yes! Thanks to all of you for passing along your “congratulations” and “finally” comments, we enjoyed reading each and every one of them! (And yes, it was about time…)

Since coming home to Edmonton we’ve been enjoying some much needed down time, as well as a visit from my Mom! It’s been great to see her, though I’m sure Dad will be happy to have her home for New Years. He’s had to deal with some crazy weather in Yellowknife this week.

Lastly, I turned another year older on Saturday. I had a great day, included go-kart racing with my brother at Speeders (a surprise gift from Sharon). I’ll let this photo illustrate how we did.

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday. Happy New Year!

Recap: Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up

The Downtown Business Association’s annual Christmas on the Square Holiday Light Up took place tonight in Churchill Square. Hundreds of Edmontonians braved the minus 12 degree weather to get out and see Santa and the lighting up of the 65-foot Christmas tree!

Holiday Light Up on the Square

The event got underway at 4pm, and featured food vendors, roving choirs, stilt-walkers, and more. The City Market also stayed open longer today, welcoming patrons inside City Hall until 6pm. In addition to warming up, kids could find face painters and balloon artists indoors!

Holiday Light Up on the Square

Out on the square, entertainment included singer Sean Sonego, the Kings University Choir College, violinist John Calverley with singer Elizabeth MacInnis, and Booming Tree Taiko. Global Edmonton’s Shane Jones and Kevin O’Connell hosted the event.

Here’s a quick video of some of the highlights:

Just after 6pm, Mayor Iveson was joined by his wife Sarah Chan and Councillor Ben Henderson on stage to welcome Santa and help countdown the light up. It seemed to take forever for Santa and his helpers to get on the stage! Eventually he did, and he asked the mayor if he had been a good boy this year. “Well 62% of voting Edmontonians think I was,” Mayor Iveson quipped. Then Santa asked what he’d like for Christmas. “An LRT line to the Southeast,” was the response. The crowd loved it!

Holiday Light Up on the Square

Everyone on stage led the countdown to the light up. Finally, the 14,000 LED lights on the tree came to life and the crowd cheered. A few seconds later, fireworks in the opposite direction! Timed to the music, the brief fireworks show capped off a fun afternoon.

Holiday Light Up on the Square

The tree was donated by Millar Western Forest Products, and was installed and decorated by EPCOR. If you couldn’t make it down tonight don’t worry – the tree will be there all season long! You can see more photos here.

Tough times for Edmonton charities

Times are tough right now if you’re a charitable organization. Here in Edmonton, the outlook is pretty grim for a number of organizations:

Add up the above numbers, and Edmonton charities are short about $3 million. That’s a lot of money. The scary part is that I’m sure there are more than I haven’t been able to find yet.

The two bright spots I’ve seen are Santas Anonymous, which said it would meet the demand this year, and Stuff-A-Bus, which exceeded its goal.

While the news is terrible, it’s not that surprising. Last year donations across Canada dropped 5.3% from 2007 to $8.19 billion, the lowest figure since 2005. I’m sure we’ll see a similar or perhaps larger drop for overall giving in 2009. The fact is, philanthropy is a lagging indicator. This data is from the US but I think it applies to us too:

During the last 40 years, according to data provided by Giving USA, charitable giving fell in real terms (i.e., adjusted for inflation) in years in which the economy was in recession, or in years in which there was a significant stock market dislocation. Giving fell in 1980, 1987, and 1990. The last time the economy contracted was in 2001. That year, according to Giving USA, charitable giving fell 2.3 percent in real terms, after having boomed along with the stock markets and the economy at large in the late 1990s. But while the economy resumed its growth in late 2001, charitable giving slumped in real terms in both 2001 (down 1.4 percent) and 2003 (down 0.2 percent).

It’s a lagging indicator because charitable donations are seen as a luxury. You pay your bills first, then you make a donation. Not everyone sees it that way, of course, but on the whole, that’s the reality.

Hopefully that means local charities will have a better year in 2010.

There’s still time to help this holiday season! Here’s how:

Christmas Bureau of Edmonton 2009 Campaign Launch

Today the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton launched its 69th campaign, challenging everyone to help provide for 65,000 less fortunate Edmontonians this year. The goal is to raise $1.6 million in the six weeks prior to December 25th. Councillor Henderson was on hand this afternoon to proclaim December 2009 as Christmas Bureau Month in the City of Edmonton. He echoed the thoughts of many in the room when he said that the Christmas Bureau is embedded into what makes Edmonton great. It’s amazing that they’ve been helping less fortunate families since 1940! Honorary Campaign Chairpersons Kevin Lowe and the Oilers Ladies also gave some remarks. I had no idea that Kevin Lowe has been involved with the Christmas Bureau for 27 years!

To help launch the campaign, the media were invited to participate in a gingerbread house making competition! I was fortunate enough to participate, representing new media along with The Unknown Studio. Here’s the “Twitter” house I came up with:

Christmas Bureau Gingerbread Competition

I had lots of fun, and was amazed at some of the houses the others created. Check out most of them in my photoset here. Thanks to the Christmas Bureau for asking me to take part.

To learn more about the Christmas Bureau, check out their website. You can donate, volunteer, or sponsor a family. You can also follow them on Twitter!

REVIEW: Staples Copy & Print Centre Online

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I did, and enjoyed a small break from blogging too. Time to get back into it!

staples logo One of the things I got Sharon for Christmas was a food calendar. I wanted to get her something related to photography and food, but another picture frame just didn’t seem that interesting. When I was in Staples one day, I noticed their advertising for the Copy & Print Centre, and specifically for the calendars. I took a card from the counter, and checked out the website when I got home. A couple of hours later and I had a professional looking calendar, filled with photos of food we’ve made together or of restaurants we’ve visited.

I found the website very easy-to-use, if a little basic. You can do pretty much everything online that you can do in the store. Want to print or copy something? Simply upload a file and go. You can also order custom items, such as business cards, labels, greeting cards, bookmarks, agendas, and calendars (you can download the price list in PDF here). Obviously I was interested in the calendar option.

There are four calendar styles to choose from: deluxe, classic, express, and year in view. I went with the deluxe, which lets you completely customize a full color calendar in two sizes (8.5” x 11” or 11” x 17”) and either 12 months or 18 months. Once you’ve picked those options, you can get started creating your calendar. They display some tips and tricks before you get started, which I skipped over the first time. I later went back and read them. They suggest organizing and uploading photos ahead of time rather than on the fly, and that turned out to be really good advice. By uploading your photos first, you can save your calendar before it’s finished and return to it later. It also makes it a bit faster to customize each page.

I chose a template in the 11” x 17” size and got to work. It took me quite a while to get all the images uploaded and organized and placed on the appropriate pages, but it was worth it. After you submit your order and select a store for delivery, you can download a digital proof in PDF (mine was just under 7 MB). A few days later, you’ll receive an email notifying you that your calendar is ready to pick up! Simply pay in store and you’re done. Very easy.

A few other quick comments on the website: it appears to be written in ASP.NET, which I thought was kinda cool. They also make use of some Telerik controls, such as the RadUpload component. Interestingly, I can’t find a single link back to the main Staples website – the Copy & Print Centre seems to be completely separate.

I was really impressed with the result (the photo above is from the proof). It actually does look like a professional calendar that you’d buy in a store! It helps to have high resolution photos too, I guess. On the very back of the calendar is the Copy & Print Centre logo, but otherwise it’s completely free from logos or advertising. I wonder if you could pay to have that removed? Maybe for large orders.

I’m happy to report that Sharon loved her calendar! So did her sister actually, so much so that she set about creating her own soon after seeing Sharon’s. It’s a unique, easy-to-create gift. Based on my experience, I’d definitely recommend the Staples Copy & Print Centre online.

Tracking Santa in 2008

It’s that time of year again! Santa has started making deliveries around the world and will be coming down your chimney before you know it. He just arrived in Pinsk, Belarus according to the noradsanta account on Twitter! Santa is getting some help from Bitz the Twittering elf, who is keeping the account up-to-date. Very cool.


“Santa Claus is coming to town” by Zanastardust

There are a number of different ways to track Santa this year. Here are some of my favorites:

For a few more options, check out this post at Search Engine Land.

Happy Holidays!

Xmas Shopping on Saturday the 23rd

I watched the evening news at 6 tonight, and their lead story was on the holiday shopping rush. They had cameras around the city throughout the day filming the madness. I too went shopping today, but not until about 7 PM this evening (no I didn’t just start, I was picking up some of the last items on my list). And actually, I think that might be the best time to go!

Traffic was light, the lines were very short, and everyone was surprisingly friendly during my time shopping this evening. I guess if you weren’t sure what you were looking for, waiting until the 23rd isn’t the best idea. If you know exactly what you’re after however, as I was, then perhaps it is the best time to go!

Apparently today (the last Saturday before Christmas, or December 23rd, this year it happens to be both) is the busiest shopping day of the year!